Monday, December 2, 2013

Sfogliatelle (noodles?)

Erica and her *husband* TJ joined our family down in Big Sur for Thanksgiving this year. After a day of running, biking, hot springs and lots of food, we spent much of Friday in recuperation mode. Finally, we urged ourselves off the couch and got down to baking: our challenge? Sfogliatelle, and Italian pastry dessert.

We mixed up the dough and let it rest, making sure to keep it "very dry" per the recipe. Erica and I are both as-you-go tasters, and we should have known something was up right from the get-go. This tasted strongly of playdough. Hmm.

We were also so thankful for the kitchen aid - given the hard consistency, I'm not sure how we would have ever managed to get this thin enough.

The filling was better - our homemade ricotta was easy enough (even though more than half our cream was accidentally used for pie the night before...), and the semolina paste was quite tasty, bringing back memories of cream of wheat for both of us.

But then the real disasters started. Our attempts to "stretch" the dough even further resulted in many many holes and butter everywhere. I'm not sure where we went wrong on that one -- anyone else have that problem?

We did forge ahead and end up with a log, which ultimately sliced up well. The pictures don't do it justice, but each slice reveals little tree rings inside. Pretty nifty!

We pushed out the dough into the little triangles and added scoops of the filling. Our ratio appeared to be way off, however -- we ended up with about 15 times more filling than we needed.

This picture doesn't reveal the next catastrophe. We popped the shaped triangles into the oven on a jelly roll pan, which only had lips on two sides. About 20 minutes in, the kitchen starts smelling like smoke, and we have to jump up from our yatzee game. Most of the butter, it seems, has melted off the pastry and into the bottom of the oven, where it has started smoking like crazy. Two fire alarms start going off, and none of our family members are all that happy.

It didn't get better once we served the dessert. While the Sfogliatelle looked quite pretty, with the ridges revealing themselves nicely, the outer "pastry" tasted distinctly like dried, ready-to-be-cooked noodles. Erica demonstrates:

Not so good. A few of our family members choked down their entire treat, but most ended up in the trash. We looked back at the recipe to see what went wrong, but nothing obvious emerged. Perhaps its a Big Sur curse? After all, we did end up with these oft-ridiculed cannolis (looking back at that recipe, perhaps the key is -- if your dough tastes like playdough, abort, abort!). Maybe we just don't like Sfogliatelle? None of us had ever had the real thing.

Thankfully, the dessert was preceded by these beauties. In a Baking JDs first, we re-made the pot pies from last month, this time adding some leftover turkey. Delicious!

In case this post really tempted you (up for a challenge, perhaps?), here's the recipe:

Fresh Ricotta Cheese (makes 2 cups)Servings: Makes 2 cupsIngredients:
8 cups (2 litres) whole milk (or goats milk)
1 cup (250 ml) heavy whipping cream (about 35%)
1/2 teaspoon (3 gm) salt
3 tablespoons (45 ml) fresh lemon juice
1. Line a large colander or strainer with 2 layers of lightly dampened cheesecloth over a large glass; set aside.
2. Pour the whole milk, heavy cream and salt into a large pot and bring
to a boil over medium heat, whisking occasionally. Reduce the heat, add
the fresh lemon juice and stir/whisk continuously for 2-3 minutes. The
mixture will curdle, which is exactly what you want it to do. Pour this
into the cheesecloth lined strainer and let it drain for about 1 hour or
until it comes to room temperature. At this point you can scrape the
ricotta from the cheesecloth into a container and refrigerate for up to
2 days.
3. The liquid in the bowl is the whey, a very nutritious and tasty
leftover byproduct from making cheese. It is excellent to use instead of
water when baking bread, or added to soup stock. I love the stuff and
never discard it. Here is an excellent article on the wonders of whey! (Note to Baking JD readers -- we used this in the pot pies with excellent results!)Semolina-Ricotta Filling

Sfogliatelle Ricci Servings: 14-18 pastries
You will need a large/long workspace for this. I used my dining room
table for this though I am sure someone will be more creative with
limited space! Dough
3 cups (750 ml) (15 oz) (420 gm) all-purpose (plain) flour
teaspoon (6 gm) salt
3/4 cup (180 ml) warm water (about 100°F/38°C)
4 oz (115 gm) lard (I used Crisco butter flavored shortening)
1/2 cup (1 stick/4 oz) (115 gm) unsalted butter, softenedSemolina-ricotta filling (see above)
1. Combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir in the
water, or use your standing mixer with the paddle attachment. The dough
will be very dry. If you feel absolutely compelled, add an extra
teaspoon of water but it is supposed to be very dry. Turn this out onto a
clean work surface and knead the dough together, bringing in all the
dry bits. At this point get your pasta roller out and ready. Roll out
the dough to about 1/3 inch (10 mm) and pass through your pasta machine
at the widest setting. I find it much easier to cut my dough in half and
work 1/2 at a time for this step. Fold the dough in half after each
pass also change the direction of the dough occasionally. After about 15
passes the dough should be very smooth. Knead the dough back into a
ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate and rest the dough for at 2
hours, or overnight.

2. Beat the lard/shortening and butter together in your mixing bowl
until very fluffy. Make sure it is thoroughly combined. Place into a
bowl and set on the workspace in easy reaching distance.
3. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into 4 equal
pieces. Working with one piece of dough at a time (cover the other
pieces with a towel or plastic wrap), lightly flour a piece pass it
through the pasta roller set at the widest setting. Try to get the dough
as even as possible, your goal is an even rectangle strip, about 4
inches (10 cm) in width. If needed, fold it over on itself a few times
until you get an even strip. Once even, pass the dough through every
setting, ending with the highest (mine is 7)
4. You should end up with a long 4 inch (10 cm) wide strip. Repeat with the other three remaining pieces of dough.
5. *For my own ease of use I made my own rolling pin contraption like
you can see on many instructional videos. I turned 2 bowls upside down
and placed them on my table where I was planning to work. I then took a
rolling pin (with handles, not French) and taped the handles to the
bowls. Every time that a piece of dough is finished and ready I lightly
floured the dough and rolled it up onto the rolling pin. When all 4
pieces of dough were finished it made it much easier to pull out a
section at a time to stretch the dough. If you are clumsy like me you
might like to try this too!
6. Place one piece of a strip on you clean work surface and paint (or
smear) it liberally with the lard/butter mixture. I do about a 8 inch
(20 cm) section at a time. Gently pull the sides of the dough and
stretch it, starting from the middle and going out, until it is about 8
or 9 inches (20 or 23 cm) in width. Begin from the short end and start
rolling the dough into a very tight roll. When you start to reach the
end of your stretched section, stop and liberally grease up another
section, stretching and rolling until all the dough is finished. When
one strip of dough is finished, overlap the end of one to the beginning
of the other; continue to pull, stretch and roll up.
7. Spread the lard/butter mixture over the entire finished log and
starting in the middle gently run the hands down the length to extend
the length another inch (30 mm) or so. This will release any air pockets
and tighten the roll. Your finished roll should be approximately 10 or
11 inches (25 or 28 cm). .
8. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
The dough may be frozen for up to 3 months, at this time. Defrost it in
the refrigerator overnight before using.
9. Preheat your oven to moderately hot 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6
10. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
11. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap, and place on a
cutting board. Slice off about an inch (30 mm) from each end so that
they are straight and even. Cut the roll into 1/2 inch (15 mm) slices.
Put the semolina-ricotta mixture into a pastry bag with a 3/4 inch (20
mm) opening (A disposable pastry bag or even a ziploc bag with the
corner cut off is fine).
12. Take one slice of dough and place it on your workplace. With the
heel of your hand, push out from the center in one direction. Rotate the
dough and do this in all four directions. This forms the dough and
opens up the layers. Pick up the piece and insert your thumbs on the
inside with your forefingers on the outside meanwhile gently stretch the
center to make it more into the shape of a cone. You don't want the
layers to actually separate. Holding the cone in one hand, squeeze some
of the filling into the cavity so it is full. Lightly push the opening
closed. You do not have to seal the opening as the filling is too thick
to ooze out during baking.
13. Place onto the prepared baking sheet and very lightly brush the
outside of each completed pastry with the lard/butter mixture. Bake
them in a preheated moderately hot 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6 oven for
about 20 to 25 minutes or until they are a deep golden brown.
14. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack. These are best served warm
with a sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar on the day they are made. To
reheat them, just place them in a moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 oven
for about 5 minutes.

Sandie of the lovely blog, Crumbs of Love,
was our November hostess. Sandie challenged us to make a traditional
Italian dessert, along with its American version – Sfogliatelle (or
better known in the US – lobster tails!) The flakey, 1000 layers of
super thin dough, shaped into a horn and filled with a scrumptious
filling. Così buono!